Max's eyes fluttered open. Cold air filled his lungs. He was no longer in the ritual chamber no stone, no runes, no blood.
Instead, he lay beside the glowing underground river, its dim sapphire light reflecting against cavern walls.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Until he saw his reflection.
Max froze.
His breath caught.
His hair now pitch black streaked with faint luminescent blue hung longer than before. But it was his eyes that truly terrified him.
One burned a deep ocean blue calm, ancient.
The other glowed crimson sharp and predatory.
His face felt the same, but his reflection felt like a stranger staring back.
"What… happened to me?"
His hands trembled as he raised them to his face, half expecting scales or fangs.
He squeezed his eyes shut and focused, willing his status screen to return.
[Name: Max]
Title: ???
Age: 19
Health: 100/100
Strength: ???
Speed: ???
Mana: ???
Lightning Resistance: ?%
Magic Points: 0
Skill Points: —
[System Rebooting… Evolving…]
Max's pulse quickened.
"My stats everything's blank. Skill points are gone. My health how is it even possible to have a hundred now?"
A voice answered.
Not from the cavern.
Not from behind.
Not from any direction.
It echoed inside his skull.
[Probably because you're not human anymore, boy.]
Max staggered to his feet, spinning.
"Who's there?!"
The cavern remained silent.
Only his heartbeat answered.
[Keep looking. You won't find me.]
Max's breath hitched.
"…Inside my head?"
A soft, amused hum answered him.
[Took you long enough. Yes. In here.]
The tone was feminine sharp, elegant, dripping with confidence and danger.
[Your little school installed a convenient artificial super computer into your soul creating your own unique system—quite clever. I crushed it.]
Max froze.
"You… destroyed it?"
[Mm. It was fused into your nervous system. Very messy work. But unnecessary, now that i am here it would have only hindered your growth.]
[As for your spells yup gone as well. They were cheap, artificial constructs tapping into controlled mana streams. I needed room for something… superior.]
His stomach dropped.
"You erased everything—why?!"
A low laugh echoed through his thoughts.
[Because you signed a contract.]
[You let me in.]
[And I refuse to share my vessel with scraps of mortal magic.]
Max's hand suddenly jerked upward fingers curling around his own throat.
His eyes widened as his muscles squeezed—hard.
Spots formed in his vision.
His knees buckled.
Then suddenly, the grip released.
He collapsed, coughing violently.
[Don't panic.]
The voice sounded almost bored.
[I could kill you whenever I wish, but doing so would kill me too. So behave.]
He wheezed, glaring weakly into empty air.
"Who… are you?"
The answer rolled through his mind like thunder proud and dangerous.
[My name is Raven.]
[I was sealed beneath this academy long before its halls existed.]
[Once feared across nations. A hybrid born of two apex bloodlines an ancient water dragon and a vampire.]
Images flickered in his mind storms swallowing cities, oceans rising, crimson eyes glowing in battle, fire and steel and screams.
Then darkness.
[Your new appearance reflects fragments of my essence. The hair, the eyes small signs of what you've inherited.]
[I'll suppress them for now. Wouldn't want the teachers tearing you apart out of fear.]
Max swallowed.
"So what does that make me now?"
Silence.
Then:
[A newborn.]
[Weak. Clumsy. Barely worth noticing.]
A pause.
[…but carrying a power that could reshape nations—if you survive long enough to learn it.]
Max stared at the glowing river, its reflection now warped and unrecognizable.
Everything felt unreal.
Impossible.
Yet painfully real.
Raven's voice softened—almost a whisper.
[Walk forward, Max.]
[Your life as a human is over.]
[Now begins the life of something the world forgot.]
Max exhaled.
Slowly.
Shakily.
"…Then I guess I better learn."
A faint, amused chuckle echoed through his mind.
[Good.]
[Let's see if you survive long enough to do so.]